New York Late Fee Calculator

$50 / 5% most a lease may charge as a late fee
Rent limit
the smaller of $50 and 5% of the monthly rent
Earliest fee day
Day 6 after the due date
Statute
N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2)
Checked
What was not paid on time. Copies the rent until you type here.
How the lease sets the late fee
Pre-filled with the New York limit; type the figure from your lease.
New York lets a fee start on day 6, so this box starts at 5 days; typing less will not move that day.

Your late fee

$50.00

At the legal limit

Paid 12 days late, after the 5-day grace period.

The lease asks for $50.00, exactly the most N.Y. RPL § 238-a(2) permits on these figures.

Days past due
12 days
Grace period ends
October 24, 2026
Earliest fee date
October 25, 2026
Lease late fee
$50.00 flat
Legal maximum
$50.00
Rent + late fee
$1,300.00

Limit set by New York (the smaller of $50 and 5% of the monthly rent): $50.00

min($50.00, 5% × $1,250.00 monthly rent) = $50.00

New York, earliest legal fee date: October 25, 2026

Late rent notice builder

Who it is from and to
Amounts
Taken from the calculator. Set 0 if the rent itself is paid.
Taken from the result; you may change it.
Adds the two above until you type your own figure.
Blank: the letter asks for payment at the earliest opportunity.
Payment and contact
Where and how the tenant can pay.
Late rent notice

[Your name or company]

Date: October 31, 2026

To: [Tenant name]

[Rental property address]

Re: Overdue rent for [Rental property address]

Dear [Tenant name],

This letter is a reminder that the rent of $1,250.00 for [Rental property address] was due on October 19, 2026. As of October 31, 2026, $1,250.00 of it is still unpaid (12 days past due).

Your lease provides for a late charge, which comes to $50.00.

Amount now due

Unpaid rent
$1,250.00
Late charge
$50.00
Total
$1,300.00

Please pay $1,300.00 at your earliest opportunity.

If this letter crossed with your payment, please disregard it.

Regards,

[Your name or company]

9% legal default rate (contract silent)
Max written B2B rate
16% civil / 25% criminal usury caps — loans of $250,000+ escape the civil cap, $2.5M+ escape both; corporations cannot plead civil usury (effective B2B ceiling 25%).
Cap regime
Hard cap — 25% criminal (effective)
Statute
CPLR 5004; GOL 5-501; Penal Law 190.40
Verified
— how we verify · changelog

Statutory prejudgment rate on contract debts (simple), from the earliest date the claim existed. The 2% consumer-debt rate does not apply to B2B.

Pre-filled with New York's statutory default (9%), which governs only when the contract names no rate; a rate stated in your contract replaces it.

Interest at 9% a year

Interest owed on an overdue invoice in New York at 9% per year
Invoice amount30 days late60 days late90 days late
$1,000.00$7.40$14.79$22.19
$5,000.00$36.99$73.97$110.96
$10,000.00$73.97$147.95$221.92

Maximum late fee in New York — written B2B contracts

Hard cap 25% criminal (effective).

Basis: GOL 5-501, 5-521; Penal Law 190.40.

About this page

New York rent late fee law

New York: a charge for paying rent late is allowed only once the rent is still unpaid five days after its due date, and it is capped at the lower of $50 and 5% of the month's rent.

2. No landlord, lessor, sub-lessor or grantor may demand any payment, fee, or charge for the late payment of rent unless the payment of rent has not been made within five days of the date it was due, and such payment, fee, or charge shall not exceed fifty dollars or five percent of the monthly rent, whichever is less; [...]
— N.Y. Real Prop. Law § 238-a(2). Read it at the official source · checked .

Before you send the late rent notice: it is a reminder letter about overdue rent and a late charge, not an eviction notice. A notice to pay rent or quit is a separate document, and New York has its own rules for it. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

What New York law says about invoice interest

Interest shall be at the rate of nine per centum per annum, except where otherwise provided by statute; provided the annual rate of interest to be paid in an action arising out of a consumer debt where a natural person is a defendant shall be two per centum per annum [...]
— N.Y. C.P.L.R. § 5004(a). Read it at the official source · row verified 2026-08-19.

Corporations can't raise the 16% civil cap but CAN raise the 25% criminal cap, so 25%/yr is the effective B2B ceiling (loans $250k+ escape civil; $2.5M+ escape all).

The rate of interest, as computed pursuant to this title, upon the loan or forbearance of any money, goods, or things in action, except as provided in subdivisions five and six of this section or as otherwise provided by law, shall be six per centum per annum unless a different rate is prescribed in section fourteen-a of the banking law. [...] 6. a. No law regulating the maximum rate of interest which may be charged, taken or received, except section 190.40 and section 190.42 of the penal law, shall apply to any loan or forbearance in the amount of two hundred fifty thousand dollars or more, other than a loan or a forbearance secured primarily by an interest in real property improved by a one or two family residence. b. No law regulating the maximum rate of interest which may be charged, taken or received, including section 190.40 and section 190.42 of the penal law, shall apply to any loan or forbearance in the amount of two million five hundred thousand dollars or more. [...] No corporation shall hereafter interpose the defense of usury in any action. [...] The provisions of subdivision one of this section shall not apply to any action in which a corporation interposes a defense of criminal usury as described in section 190.40 of the penal law. [...] A person is guilty of criminal usury in the second degree when, not being authorized or permitted by law to do so, he knowingly charges, takes or receives any money or other property as interest on the loan or forebearance of any money or other property, at a rate exceeding twenty-five per centum per annum or the equivalent rate for a longer or shorter period.
— N.Y. Gen. Oblig. Law § 5-501(1), (6)(a)-(b); § 5-521(1), (3); N.Y. Penal Law § 190.40. Read it at the official source · verified .

Not legal advice. Figures were last verified on the date shown; check the cited statute before charging a late fee.